5R55E no drive

[Rangerman67]

Hi everyone I'm new here, I was hoping someone here could give me some ideas about what could be causing my trans to have no drive. Its a 5r55e out of a 98 ranger with 4wd the motor is the 4.0L v6. I had a local trans shop rebuild it back in January because of the same problem. First second and reverse seem to work ok but when the trans is in drive and tries to shift from
2nd to drive on its own the rpms just take off and the truck has no momentum. The guy that rebuilt it replaced all clutches, seals, servo pistons, solenoids and epc and put in a transgo shift correction kit, that was back in Jan. I drove it a while and it seemed fine except once and a while it would slip going into drive and throw the flashing od light, he said it was a code for incorrect 4th and 5th ratio. Back then all I would have to do is disconnect the battery and it would shift normal again, then after that happened a few times I replaced the speed sensors on the trans tail shaft and the one on the rear axle it kept happening until one day it lost drive completely. I took it back to the guy and all he found was 2 slightly burned clutches so he put it back together and today I got it back in and it still had no drive so I parked it. I really don't get it seems to me that just about every component in the thing has been replaced and still no fix. I've had a few people say it sounds like an electrical problem or a ground. Any ideas? Thanks, Dan

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Was the range sensor adjusted or replaced? Do you know the exact code numbers?

 

[Rangerman67]

Yes the range sensor was replaced and adjusted. The guy that built the trans even showed me how the lines on the range sensor and the selector shaft need to be lined up.

 

[Rangerman67]

This time and the last time it lost drive there were no codes but before that it was throwing incorrect 4th and 5th ratio.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Sometimes the valve body bolts could get loose if they aren't torqued to spec. Check the main pressure, and the EPC pressure with a 0 - 300 PSI test guage in each gear range.

 

[Rangerman67]

I will have the trans guy check those pressures, he said something about checking them if it still had problems.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you have these problems before the shift kit was installed? Was the internal wiring harness checked or replaced? Was the bulkhead connector checked for rust or bent pins?

 

[Rangerman67]

Yes I had the problem before the shift kit, the internal wiring was not replaced but the resistance for the solenoids and the thermistor was checked thru the main outer plug and the pins looked straight and clean.

 

[Rangerman67]

Can someone tell me what clutch sets and bands are applied to get each gear in this trans.

 

[BrooklynBay]

 

[Rangerman67]

Ok here is the latest, He did the pressure test and the pressures were high at low rpm and dropped off as the rpm's increased so he did a leak test on the valve body with compressed air. He found 2 valves that leaked pretty bad so I got a valve body out of a junk yard vehicle and he transferred the shift improver kit over and put it back on. So after that pressures were good and he cleared all codes and it had all gears again. Then yesterday I was driving it and all of a sudden it does this weird up and down shift all in about 2 seconds then threw a code. I took it back to him to read the code and it came up with incorrect 1st and 5th gear and also wiper malfunction and an error with the door switch, the wipers were never even on. We are thinking now maybe a bad ground or the or a bad pcm. I have the pcm from a 97 with a 5r55e . Will that work in my 98? does anyone have the pin outs from a 97 and a 98 so I can compare? Thanks.

 

[Rangerman67]

There is another thing I forgot to mention, when the trans guy hooked up his computer to the truck he said there was no communication to the abs system.

 

[Rangerman67]

Tonight I tried cleaning up some grounds, I did the one next to the ecm coming off the main harness and the ground strap from the firewall to the engine. Then out for a test ride, went about 2 mi. and the od light started flashing so I went to autozone and they put their scanner on and came up with a po731 and po732 code. I had the guy reset the codes and I tried driving with the od turned off. I drove about 3x as far after that with no flashing od light. Did I find something here or do the codes not show up with the od off?

 

[BrooklynBay]

I'm surprised that their scanner was able to read those codes. According to other members on this site, they said that they weren't able to read them. Here's a list of code definitions: http://autorepair.about.com/cs/troubleshooting/l/bl_obd_7.htm

 

[mez4406]

in one post you stated codes for 1st and 5th and another one 1st and 2nd is this correct. Or a typo? Also I see you said the range sensor was adjusted you have to go into the pcm and read the data that the range sensor is giving to the pcm It has to say drive when its in drive and so on. I have seen no drive and goofy shifting caused by the senor signals being incorrect. And you have to monitor the pids while the problem is occurring dont just check it and say its good you have to drive till problem happens and watch it. Also you stated no drive does this mean no forward gears at all or no fourth gear(which is high gear)

 

[Rangerman67]

it had no forth but it has all the gears now that the valve body was changed. You were reading correctly, the first time it got an error for incorrect 1st and 5th gear then it got an error for incorrect 1st and 2nd gear.

 

[mez4406]

So where are you at now its all good you have all gears or are you still getting codes?

 

[Rangerman67]

Took it for a drive today and seemed fine for a few miles then I pulled out on a road after sitting in the bank drive thru went about 200 ft to a light and when I pulled out I could tell it wasn't in first. Just after that it threw the po731 code again. I took it back to the trans shop and we cleaned the ground on the driverside fender apron cleaned the air filter and cleaned the mass air flow sensor. He hooked his computer up to it and we took it for a drive, we watched the operation of the 4 solenoids while driving but no errors and no codes this time so he was thinking a sticky valve so I put some additive in that he said was for that, I cant remember the name of the stuff. I drove it back home and no problem so far.

 

[mez4406]

Does kinda soundlike a bad valve body???Thats really hard to diag over the internet. any new news please post it.

 

[Rangerman67]

Nothing really new it happens when I'm driving in stop and go traffic. If I turn off the od it doesn't throw any codes and shifts fine but I don't know if its bad to constantly drive with the od off.